


Worth It

by dead_not_sleeping



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-15 11:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3445568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dead_not_sleeping/pseuds/dead_not_sleeping
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin is dating an older Arthur (ten year age gap) and Uther demands to meet him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Be aware of rude Uther, slightly bitchy Morgana and Merlin defending himself as well as their relationship. I may continue this one as well, I have ideas.

“I want to meet him,” Uther says over their monthly dinner and Arthur sighs.

“Father, I don't think that-”

“This is the first person you have been serious about since that woman-”

“Gwen, father, her name is Gwen,” Arthur interrupts but his father goes on as if he hadn't.

“And I believe that I have a right to meet someone you are so serious about.” Arthur sighs and glares over at his half-sister who brought up the fact that he's been dating Merlin for six months. She shrugs and smiles around the wine glass that she has at her mouth. Unfortunately his father is right, he hasn't found anyone he's been serious about since Gwen who he'd dated for over three years before she cheated on him with his best friend. That had been over two and a half years ago and he'd met Merlin at his favorite coffee shop when they'd been forced to sit together because there wasn't any other seats. After the first day, they continued to sit together and after two months of flirting, Merlin had asked him out and they'd been together since.

“Serious isn't exactly how I would describe it,” Arthur tries, though he's lying through his teeth, he's found himself looking at engagement rings online, not that he would buy it that way, but he's been looking. They haven't talked about it much, just in passing, but Arthur hasn't felt this way about anyone, not even Gwen who he had thought was his soul mate.

“Even so,” Uther says and sits back as desert is brought out to them by servants, “you'll bring him to dinner next month.” Arthur sighs in resignation because he knows that his father won't let it go and if he doesn't bring Merlin, he'll never hear the end of it.

* * *

 

“It's fine Arthur,” Merlin tries to sooth him the next night when they are out to dinner.

“You don't know my father, Merlin,” Arthur tries to reason but Merlin just smiles and squeezes his hand across the table.

“Is he anything like you?”

“No, not at all,”Arthur says, trying not to sound offended.

“Then he can't be that bad,” Merlin says with a smirk and Arthur pulls his hand back and mock glares at him.

“It's just,” Arthur says as they're heading back to his place in the back of his car the one that has its own driver, something that Merlin teases him about mercilessly.

“What?” Merlin asks, rolling his head to the side to look at him and Arthur pulls him in for a long, slow kiss which leaves them panting.

“You're just so much-” Arthur tries to go on but stops.

“What, younger than you?” Merlin asks and slips into his lap, his knees on either side of Arthur's thighs.

“Well,” Arthur says as he kisses Merlin's jaw and up to his ear, “you are almost ten years younger than me.”

“Does that make you a cougar?” Merlin snarks and gasps when Arthur bites down on his collar bone and grabs his ass.

* * *

“Morgana,” Arthur greets his sister when she, and not a servant, answers the door a month later, “what are you doing here?”

“Oh,” she says greeting Merlin with a kiss to the cheek, “I wouldn't miss this for the world.”

“Hello Morgana,” Merlin says with a grin and Arthur rolls his eyes, annoyed that they have become friends when he never meant for them to meet in the first place.

“You're almost late,” she accuses as they make their way towards the dining room, Merlin moving slowly as he stares around him in wonder, he knew that Arthur's family was rich, but not this rich. There are marble pillars and floors, lush Asian carpets, vases on antique tables that probably cost more than he'll ever earn in his lifetime, and paintings that are probably the originals on the walls.

“I feel under dressed,” he mutters to Arthur as he pulls on his tie self consciously feeling overwhelmed in his hand-me-down suit.

“You'll be fine,” Morgana assured, “Uther might have a heart attack though, can't say that his reaction to Merlin won't be the highlight of my night.”

“Morgana,” Arthur warns as he senses Merlin's unease growing and she is prevented from answering him by their entrance to the dining room.

“They're here Uther,” she calls as the older man is sitting at the head of the table.

“You're almost late,” the older man says shortly and Arthur give him a tight smile as he moves forward to shake his hand.

“Sorry father, my fault, I had a meeting that ran later than I thought it would,” he says and turns to Merlin. “Father, may I introduce you to Merlin,” he says and pulls the other man forward.

“It's nice to meet you sir,” Merlin says, proud that his voice doesn't shake, though he is sure that the rest of him is. Arthur's father is intimidating, to say the least, he's nearly a head taller than himself and holds himself with an air of superiority that makes Merlin uncomfortable.

“Merlin it's-” he stops mid sentence when he finally looks at Merlin and then looks to Arthur and back, his brows furrowed, “nice to meet you as well,” he finishes slowly and Merlin swallows hard. “Please sit,” he indicates and Arthur sits to his right, Merlin next to him and Morgana takes her usual seat at Uther's left. The conversation flows between the three related people in the room, Arthur tries to include Merlin but he finds himself intimidated into one worded answers.

“So Merlin,” Uther suddenly says once the second course has been removed and he's holding a glass of wine in his hand and scrutinizing Merlin closely.

“Yes sir?” he responds looking up at the other man.

“How long have you and my son been dating?”

“About six months sir,” is the response, Merlin's eyes looking between father and son.

“Would you say you are serious about this relationship?” Uther goes on and Merlin nods before opening his mouth.

“I am sir.”

“Serious about Arthur or his money?” the older man demands and Merlin can only blink at him in astonishment.

“Father!” Arthur breaks in and Uther holds up a hand to stall any other response from his son, his eyes locked on Merlin.

“I am serious about your son,” Merlin says, his back straightening and locking eyes with the elder Pendragon. He's been accused of this before, and his answer is always the same, he doesn't care about how much money Arthur has, he fell for the man himself.

“You may think that, but why else would a young man, what, ten years his junior, want with him, other than his money?”

“It is true, I am ten years younger than Arthur, but if you think his worth is measured by his wealth, then you don't hold him in much esteem.”

“Father, Merlin want's nothing to do with my wealth,” Arthur tries to break in but his father scoffs at him.

“They always do, do you not remember Vivian?” Arthur flinches at the reminder and Merlin's anger grows.

“I am putting myself through school to become a doctor,” he defends himself, “and I have and would _never_ ask Arthur to help me pay for that.”

“But you still have years of schooling left, won't you want to have children, by the time you are done, Arthur will be toeing that line of being too old to have any, if he wants them at all. And if you do, who will stay at home with them? You can't expect Arthur to do it, he has a company to run, if you are a doctor, you won't have time to do it either. I suggest you break it off now, before anyone gets hurt,” he says this to Arthur and Merlin's jaw clenches.

“What Arthur and I chose to do about children or any other decision, is our choice,” he snaps and Uther's attention is directed at him again. “This is our life and we will do what we see fit, with your blessing or not.” There is a long silence as Merlin and Uther stare each other down.

“He has spunk,” Uther finally says, addressing Arthur again, “but be careful, he'll get bored of you soon enough. I expect he won't be around much longer, thankfully you don't have many close friends he can run off with.”

“Uther!” Morgana says aghast and Arthur stands, tossing his napkin down on the table.

“We're leaving,” he says and Merlin climbs to his feet, “I have listened to you insult Merlin again and again, and I won't do it any more.” With that, he takes Merlin's hand and they exit the room.

“Arthur, wait,” Morgana calls, following them but he doesn't stop until they've reached the front door and lets the butler know to has his car brought around.

“I'm not staying another minute with him 'Gana,” Arthur says, and he's shaking with anger.

“I'm not asking you to, just consider what he's saying,” she says gently and Merlin reels back as if he'd been struck, he thought that he and Morgana were friends. “I'm sorry Merlin,” she says turning to him, “but Arthur does have terrible taste in partners. You seem genuine, you really do, but so did most of the others.”

“You have known him almost as long as I have,” Arthur defends him as Merlin looks away, fighting tears of shame and anger, “when has he ever shown a selfish or deceitful side to him?”

“I haven't seen one,” she admits and opens her mouth but their car is announced and Arthur glares at her before he leads Merlin outside.

The ride back to Merlin's apartment is silent, each sitting on one side of the car and staring out the windows. When they pull up in front of the building, Merlin finally looks to Arthur who is looking back with and unreadable look on his face.

“Do you want to come up?” he asks tentatively.

“No, I should get home, early day tomorrow,” is the response and Merlin tries to tamp down on the panic that wells inside him, afraid that Uther's words have had the desired effect.

“Ok, night then,” he says and leans forward and kisses Arthur, glad at least that he responds to that.

“I'll call you tomorrow,” is promised as he climbs out of the car and he nods before the car pulls away. He takes the elevator to his floor and unlocks his door, feeling numb as he kicks off his shoes near the door and heads towards his room in the dark As he's pulling on his pajamas, there's a knock on the door and he quickly pulls his shirt over his head and goes to answer it.

“I'm an idiot,” Arthur says as soon as the door is opened and he moves forward to kiss Merlin and pushes him inside, closing the door behind him.

“I thought you had an early day tomorrow,” Merlin says as he pulls back enough to look the other man in the eye.

“I'm taking a sick day and I'm going to spend the day with you in bed, sound good?”

“Sounds perfect,” Merlin replies and surges forward to kiss the other man again.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's friends want to meet Arthur, turns out he knows two of them pretty well already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is just like the summary explains, kind of goes into Gwen and Arthur's past, emphasis on kind of, and Merlin's friends accepting that he's dating an older man. Mentions a past abusive relationship of Merlin's, nothing graphic, but it's there and past Gwaine/Merlin, but that's not the abusive one and past Arthur/Gwen, if you didn't get that from the first chapter.

“We want to meet him,” Gwaine tells Merlin during one of their monthly game nights, which includes sitting around playing video games, drinking alcohol and staying up all night like they are teenagers.

“What, like that?” Merlin asks, looking down at where Gwaine is sitting in his shorts, a controller in one hand, a fist full of pretzels in his other.

“Why not?” he demands, waggling his eyebrows at Merlin, “if he can't stand the sight of my beautiful body in it's glory, he's too prudish.”

“He's not prudish,” Merlin defends Arthur and quickly finishes their match and crows his victory while Gwaine stands to grab another beer, passing Lance who is passed out on the couch behind them.

“How would you know?” the other man asks, coming back and handing Merlin another long neck, but Merlin shakes his head, he's not a big drinker and he's reached his limit. Gwaine shrugs, pops the top of his own beer before taking a pull and setting them both on the table in front of them.

“Trust me,” Merlin says, staring another round on the telly, “he's not a prude.”

“You little slut,” Gwaine cries, pushing at Merlin's shoulder just as the game starts and Merlin grunts and shoves back.

“Right, like you have any place to talk,” he shoots back, “if I remember, you were trying to get into my pants on the first date.”

“You're just that hot,” Gwaine says with a shrug and proceeds to trounce Merlin in the game and Merlin throws down his controller. Perhaps it's getting too late as he spies the sun start to peek in through the windows, indicating morning has come.

“In all serious Merl,” the other man goes on after they sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes, “we're just looking out for you, we're worried about you. After Val...” he trails off and Merlin looks out through the windows again, watching the sky brighten.

Val Winters was an abusive piece of shit, both mentally and physically, and it had taken both Lance and Gwaine physically moving Merlin out of his apartment to get him to break up with the asshole. It had taken a restraining order and a change of his phone number and some other big changes in his life to get the other man to leave him alone.

“I know,” he responds quietly after a long moment, he doesn't like thinking back on that part of his life, “but Arthur isn't anything like Val, in fact he's too good for me.”

“Pfft,” Gwaine snorts and shakes his head, “no one is too good for you.”

“Stop hitting on Merlin, Gwaine,” Lance's tired voice breaks in, “but he's right Merlin, we want to meet him.”

“Invite him to the pub Saturday,” Gwaine tells him and Merlin sighs, knowing he won't be able to get out of this, if they have to, they'll stalk both he and Arthur until they meet the other man.

“Fine, but you both have to behave,” he demands and receives a snort and an eye roll from Gwaine and a 'no promises' from Lance.

* * *

 

“My friends want to meet you,” Merlin tells Arthur later that week, it's been about a week since the disastrous dinner with Arthur's father and Arthur hasn't talked to him or Morgana since. They're watching a movie at Merlin's apartment for a night-in, something that had been nearly unknown and completely foreign to Arthur.

“That's fine,” Arthur says taking a seat on Merlin's old couch, one he had found on the side of the road and refused to get rid of, no matter how many times Arthur states his hatred for it.

“You don't know them,” Merlin sits beside him and places the large bowl of popcorn on the table in front of them and reaches for the remote. “They'll try to run you off, Gwaine's a bit protective.”

“Merlin,” Arthur says, pulling the other man back against him as the movie starts, “just tell me when and where.”

* * *

 

 

“You have to be nice,” Merlin demands, glaring at the man across from who him who just smiles back serenely as he takes a drink of his beer.

“I have to do nothing of the sort,” Gwaine says, signaling to the waitress as she passes by for another round.

“I really like this guy,” Merlin protests, “I don't need you scaring him off.”

“If he's easily scared off, then he's not worth your time,” Gwaine points out and thanks the waitress when she brings his next mug of beer.

“Gwaine,” Merlin nearly begs but his phone buzzes and he reaches for it, “he's here, and I'll kill you if you're rude,” he promises and stands to meet Arthur at the door.

“Hey,” Arthur greets him with a quick kiss and follows Merlin to their table and Gwaine stands to greet them.

“Arthur, this is Gwaine, Gwaine, this is Arthur,” Merlin says watching the two of them closely, Arthur sticks out his hand and Gwaine shakes it, once he give the other a once-over.

“Nice to meet you,” Arthur says and takes a seat in the booth and Merlin slides in next to him.

“And you.  What are you having?” Gwaine asks and flags down the waitress and Arthur orders his drink and both men sit back and eye each other.

“How do you know Merlin?” Arthur finally asks and Merlin closes his eyes and Gwaine grins.

“Oh, Merlin and I go way back, we dated for about three months.”

“Oh really? Merlin,” Arthur says, looking at Merlin, highly amused, “you never told me this was your ex-boyfriend.”

“Didn't think it was relevant,” Merlin says and drains his drink before standing, wanting to get away so he makes his way to the bar for his refill himself.

“I can't help but notice there's an age difference,” Gwaine is saying as he returns and he blows out a breath and catches sight of Lance and Gwen when they enter.

“There's ten years between us, Gwaine, I told you that,” Merlin says and slides in when Arthur stands to let him into the booth.

“Oh, hey,” Gwaine says, when he notices the other two approaching their table and he moves out of the booth and grabs a chair and turns it around backwards and straddles it, allowing Gwen and Lance to take the booth. “Lance, Gwen, this is Arthur, Merlin's new main squeeze.” There is silence that is thick and uncomfortable and Merlin glances between them, seeing three shocked faces.

“Guys?” he asks and is shocked when Arthur stands abruptly and grabs his jacket before making his way towards the door. Looking at the other three briefly, he pushes himself out of the booth and follows. “Arthur!” he calls as he pushes through the door into the cool night air, wishing he had grabbed his jacket. Arthur is standing there at the curb with his hands shoved deep into his pockets and staring across the street. “Arthur?” he asks hesitatingly, stepping up beside him, noting his stiff posture and clenched jaw.

“Are you good friends with those two?” Arthur's voice is clipped and full of ice and Merlin pulls back, surprised.

“I've known them for a few years, I met Gwen when we started interning together at the hospital, she introduced me to Lance. Do you know them?” Arthur is silent for a long moment, his jaw working for nearly a minute.

“Lance was once my best friend, Gwen was once my fiancee, they cheated on me together, I haven't seen either of them in two years.”

“Oh gods,” Merlin replies looking back at the door when it opens briefly, allowing other patrons to leave, “I had no idea, Arthur, I swear.”

“Look, I don't think I'm going to stick around,” Arthur says as he pulls his keys out of his pocket and Merlin has a brief panic attack, not knowing if he means here tonight, or their relationship. “I'm going to go for a drive, would you like to come?” Merlin tries not to let the relief show on his face but he nods and rushes back inside to get his jacket.

His three friends are still sitting at the booth, Gwen looks upset and is wiping at the tears on her face, Lance looks composed but Merlin can see worry and guilt in his eyes.

“We're going to head out,” he says once he reaches the table and grabs his jacket from the seat.

“Merlin we know Arthur,” Lance tries to say but Merlin just shakes his head and gives him a smile, he doesn't know the whole story, he's hoping he will get it on this drive, but he is still friends with these two, no matter what.

“He told me,” he responds and Gwen pales, “not the whole thing, but I know, and I still love you guys,” he continues and kisses Gwen's cheek before he joins Arthur outside once again.

The drive is silent except for the radio that is playing quietly and Arthur is still stiff, his only movement is to reach for the gear shift when he needs to. Merlin watches him, not paying attention to where they are going, trying not to let his worry get to him.

“Wow,” Merlin says in awe when they finally stop, they're somewhere up in the mountains, at some point they had pulled onto a dirt road and were now overlooking the city.

“One of my favorite spots,” Arthur explains and Merlin can understand why. They are parked in a small area, the edge of a cliff not twenty feet away and below them Camelot is spread out. In the dark the city is a display of color, and a large full moon hangs over the lake at the far end of the city.

“It's beautiful,” Merlin replies, his voice hushed. He had come from a small city, the population reaching barely above two thousand, and when he moved to Camelot, he had fallen in love with the large city.

They are quiet for a long time, both staring out over the city, Merlin wants to say something but is afraid of where the conversation might lead.

“I've known Lance my whole life,” Arthur finally says and Merlin nearly jumps out of his skin, “we went to school together, played sports together, hell he even dated my sister for a while. We went to university together, but he decided it wasn't for him and dropped out to join the army. While in university, I met Gwen and we started dating, I thought I wanted to marry her after our first date. I was sensible though, and waited for our third to ask,” he stops with a self deprecating laugh; Merlin doesn't respond, wouldn't know how if he tried and after a moment, Arthur continues. “I actually waited nearly two years to ask her, I had a brief thought on our first date that she was the kind of person I could spend my life with. I thought we were happy, once we were engaged, everything seemed to fall into place, until Lance came back.” Arthur sighs and slouches down in his seat and Merlin reaches out and takes his hand and is grateful that the other man doesn't pull away but instead brings his hand to his lips.

“I had sent Lance an invitation, he was still active duty at the time, so I didn't know if he would be able to make it, but a week before our wedding, he showed up.” Here he stops again and leans his head back against the seat, staring up at the ceiling of the car. “Three days later, I found them in bed together, I called off the wedding right then and there, kicked them out and haven't talked to them since.”

“I'm sorry,” Merlin finally says, not knowing what else to say and Arthur chuckles and turns his head to smile at him.

“Nothing for you to be sorry for, I thought I was over it, and for the most part I am, I spent nearly a year after that drinking and found myself at a dark place. Morgana pulled my ass out and got me sober and kicked my ass until I couldn't sit any more and got my life back on track. It's just,” he pauses again, turning his head to look out over the city, “seeing that their together, still, it was a bit like being kicked in the gut.” Merlin holds in the 'I'm sorry' he wants to repeat and decides to stay quiet and watch the other man.

“I figure I lucked out though,” Arthur finally says and sits up so he can pull Merlin into his lap, the younger man's legs on either side of his thighs, “I got the better end of the deal.”

“Oh really?” Merlin asks, gasping when Arthur bites his neck.

“Definitely,” is the response and Arthur drags him down to a heated kiss.

* * *

“Should I be worried?” Arthur asks from the doorway of the kitchen where Merlin is in the middle of making nachos, a bag of popcorn ready to be popped sits on the counter next to the microwave.

“About what?” he asks over his shoulder, reaching for the release on the microwave when it beeps and pulls the nachos out.

“Gwaine has lost his trousers, and shirt,” he says, sounding alarmed as he glances back again and Merlin snorts and shakes his head as he sets the popcorn bag in the microwave and sets the time.

“It's a regular occurrence, so no, means he's approved of you,” he says and moves into Arthur's space and wraps his arms around his waist. “Thank you for this,” he says and Arthur leans down and kisses him.

“Thank you,” he responds and pulls Merlin closer, “it's good to get to know Lance again, I didn't realize how much I'd missed him.”

“And Gwen?” Merlin asks tentatively, they had been spending time with the other couple, trying to mend broken fences and he was glad it seemed to be working. Inviting Arthur to their game night had been Lance's idea and Merlin had been surprised when the other man accepted. Gwaine was being his usual self, meaning he accepted Arthur; Gwen and Lance were currently battling it out on the screen, yelling insults at each other as the game went back and forth between them.

“It's nice to see her happy, both of them, really, I think it's helping me close that door completely,” Arthur responds and leans in to kiss him again.

“Oi!” they hear Gwaine call, “I already have to put up with one shmoopy couple in my life, I don't need another one, get your hands off each other and bring on the food!”

“See if you can't find a way to dump this on his royal majesties head, would you?” Merlin requests as he hand Arthur the bag of popcorn.

“And waste it? Never,” Arthur winks and steals another quick kiss before leaving the kitchen, Merlin following him with the plate of nachos.

“Put your clothes on,” Arthur demands as he sets the bag on the coffee table and sits in one of the arm chairs, pulling Merlin into his lap.

“You're just jealous,” Gwaine shoots back, patting his stomach where the evidence of a six pack is still there, though fading quickly under his love of food and alcohol.

“I can honestly say,” Merlin says from his perch, watching the TV as Lance and Gwen start another round, pushing at each other, trying to gain an advantage, “he has nothing to be jealous of, he's quite fit.”

“I can second that,” Gwen suddenly speaks up and the room goes silent and she looks up, almost horrified at what she's said, before Arthur bursts out laughing, the others joining in.

“And I can third it,” Lance speaks up, still intent on the game, they all look at him astonished, Merlin glancing between him and Arthur, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh really?” Gwen asks, looking between him and Arthur, “is there something I should know about you two?”

“What? No!” Lance sounds horrified once he's caught onto what she's implying, his cheeks turning red, “I just meant, we grew up together, I've seen him- he's- we've-” he sputters and the others laugh again. Gwen reaches over and kisses him to reassure him and Merlin glances at Arthur who is watching them, a contented smile on his face.

“So of the four of us, Arthur has slept with half our numbers,” Gwaine points out, wrestling the controller from Lance once they're finished, “good on you,” he commends.

“Seriously, please put some clothes on,” Arthur pleads again and Gwaine shakes his head.

“Not going to happen, if you plan to stick around, either get used to it, or prove what they said and join me,” he says with a wink.

“No one's going to join you Gwaine, so stop asking,” Lance says, slapping the back of his head as he reaches over his shoulder for the nachos.

“One day, you'll join me,” the other man promises and the others roll their eyes as Merlin leans back against Arthur and they watch as Gwen and Gwaine start the game.

 

 


End file.
